for Labor Day weekend, Seth, Blaine, Katie, John,Kaya, and I went down to Tangle Lakes & the Delta River for a canoe trip! (well, canoe, skanoe, & kayak trip to be correct...)We put in at mile 22 on the Denali Hwy, in the Tangle Lakes area. After paddling through the lakes you hit the Delta River. Our takeout was at mile 213 on the Richardson Hwy, just under 30 miles away by lake/river.We were out for three days with beautiful weather, wonderful company and lots of fish to catch and eat.Katie and Blaine were in John's canoe, while John manned a kayak.

Seth, Kaya, and I were in 'skanoe' borrowed from my friend Dave. Seth was a great skanoe captain, skillfully navigating us through lakes and rapids alike. Kaya was incredibly comfortable in the boat, almost to a fault. To her credit she never jumped ship, even when another dog tried to bite her face...we were there with paddles in hand to defend her. (happily we only saw two other groups of people on our entire trip once we entered the river)my first fish! Blaine, John, and Katie set me up with a fishing pole and line (i.e. string) and tackle for my birthday...The grayling were plentiful & I felt successful.

Brunch. rum and chocolate. and peanut butter. and cheddar bunnies. and a luna bar. and sausage (for them, not me). and more rum. we ate, and ate a lot, on this trip. It's possible that we were all carrying our own weights in food...with grayling to supplement.

fishin'there were so many blueberries, we were in heaven. kaya enjoyed herself in the tundra

the portage was a little bit longer than we had anticipated, but we managed.

at our second camp there was still more fishing to be done. here there was a fish caught that got off the hook and slowly swam over by the boat. blaine, seth, and john tried to catch it with their wit and good looks alone. here is john giving up, leaving the ridiculous task to the other two. (they were ultimately unsuccessful)

mmm...grayling.

intrepid fishermen at workthe last hoorah down some "rapids"we did actually hit some rapids earlier in the trip. but these were far more manageable.

i got to steer for the final 1/2 mile. well, a little bit. mostly seth just pulled us over the rocks.